Different Mafia Playstyles

[Transmuter]

In this article I would cover the variety of playstyles found in Mafia. How people play as Town (certain power roles or just Villager), as Scum (Mafia) or even as Scum (3rd Party). I'll also break down how important it is to study every playstyle and see how someone plays when they have a certain role. I'll also mention how veterans are generally harder to read and how they effectively change up their playstyle between games or even in the same game, making them near impossible to read.

Note: I would probably need a better title.

 

[antemortem]

Can you elaborate more on "how" one would play as a particular party?

 

[Transmuter]

Well playstyle differs from playing as town to playing as scum. Playing as town, your goal is to find the scum, convince others that you're not scum yourself and in general seem truthfull and not scummy (there's also the bored villy playstyle, which is if someone gets the role of a villy and they get bored, they start playing troll-ish, which sometimes helps town others it helps mafia). While playing as scum is very different, players need to outsmart, gain the trust of the town, seem truthful and honest even though they're lying and in general plan everything as well as possible and give an explanation of everything. Some scum are either too quiet, trying to not get targeted, or talk a lot trying to seem like they're helping town even though their goal is to eliminate them. Anyway I won't go through all of the playstyles possible cause that's for the article, but that's a general idea of how playstyles differ depending on which party you're in n_n

 

[Vacate]

Transmuter, could you provide a bullet point list of the playstyles you'd cover in the article?

 

[Transmuter]

Sure Vacate

- As Town

• The "follow-the-cop" playstyle (most common in our room in most themes where a cop is in a games, could be effective at times, but it's very risky as if Cop gets killed, town is pretty much clueless)
• The "bored villy" playstyle (this is common to players that get the Villager role during the game, they think of it as a useless and boring role so they try to have fun with it by being kind of a troll. Sounds like a playstyle that would hinder Town, but sometimes it plays to its advantage)
• The "WIFOM villy" playstyle (WIFOM is a mafia term used for expressing the act of messing up with the enemy's minds and confusing everyone more or less, this playstyle is rare and only seen being used by experts, some people try to imitate them tho and usually fail. Sometimes other players in the game just think they are "bored villies" due to the things they do that seem crazy, like fake claiming to be a doc or cop. )
• The "obvious Power role" style (usually, if a player isn't experienced enough, while trying to hide the fact that they are a Power Role and avoid getting killed from Mafia, the way they talk and interact with others makes it obvious for Expert Mafia players that they're a power role)
• The "scummy" playstyle (usually Mafia tries to avoid being scummy so they don't get targeted and lynched. The thing is that Town should also avoid being scummy, if a Town memeber is scummy others would think they are Mafia and it will be much easier for the actually Mafia to get them killed during the day by lynching them. A player can seem scummy through a lot of actions. The most common one is Bandwagoning on someone's vote without giving a legit reasoning as to why you voted that player. This playstyle is commonly seen used by newcomers)
• The "offensive" playstyle (some veterans don't like the overly popular "follow-the-cop" style and try to scumhunt which is what Town should do in the first place. They usually tend to be offensive and putting people in the corner. This is done cause usually someone that's scum will probably slip when put in a bad spot due to being nervous. Though be careful to be good with words, cause you may be seen as scummy if you try to pressure people)
• The "analytic" playstyle (one of my personal favorites, watch everything carefully, try to find scum and tell anything you found iffy that would be of valuable info to the Town in the chat. Mostly used by veterans)

- As Scum

• The "Quiet Mafia" playstyle (this playstyle is usually the product of fear of screwing things up for them and their partners, so they stay quiet and try to avoid getting lynched by that. Little do they know that being quiet is one of the most scummy playstyles in the game. Commonly used by newcommers)
• The "persuasive" playstyle ( mostly used by veterans, such players need to be very good with words and be able to persuade people with giving them a valid explenation of why they shouldn't be lynched or someone else should be lynched instead. This is a very effective tactic for Mafia if done right.)
• The "mastermind" playstyle (some players are very good at planning things ahead, these players do extremely well if they are in the Mafia side of the game. Simply be analytic, watch the chat carefully and try to find any info that would help you win in the long run. This playstyle is very rare, due to the ammount of experience and intelligence someone needs to have. When aligned with other Mafia players, he's usually the one to lead the others.)
• The "claiming to be bored villy" playstyle (usually mafia tries to play dumb and trollish to make the rest of the players think they are just a boring villy, thus they stop bothering with him. So Mafia is pretty much acknowledged as a villy even tho he's the one killing all Town members one by one.)
• The "offensive" playstyle applies here as well, though in a different way. Mafia usually goes to this playstyle as a last-resort or when they're desperate after put in a bad spot. It's usually a bad play and results in Mafia losing.
• The "scummy" playstyle applies here as well, some newcomers can't avoid hiding the fact that they are scum and they do very questionable things like Bandwagoning any vote possible or justbe quiet and "follow" follow their partner, which is extremely bad cause they also gove away their partner's identity.
• The "cop claiming" playstyle (A very common playstyle for Mafia, they usually claim cop and give a result to the town of someone random. This could be effective if done right, otherwise it screws Mafia over. A variant of this playstyle is the playstyle of claiming that you're cop and got your partner as Mafia, since you know 100% he's mafia and if town listens to you and lynches him, then they will see you were right thus they will trust you as a cop. This is less used, due to the fact that you betray you're partner and are down to 1 member but it can be effective if done right)
• Now for Third Parties, a bad playstyle on their part is the "obvious 3rd party" playstyle (usually in situations where the Cop claims and Mafia counterclaims as cop. The 3rd party will most likely suggest to lynch one of the 2 and then lynch the other if the one they lynched turns out to be cop. This way they get a cop and a Mafia killed and they're safe for 2 Days best case scenario. But if a veteran very observant player notices this, he'll have an eye on you the whole game, so it's a risky playstyle and usually fails if used by newcomers.)

Alright that's what I came up with from the top of my head, if the article gets approved, I'll watch more mafia games, discuss things with players and such to try and find more playstyles for this. Pretty sure there are more, and they'll probably come up in my head after some thinking.

Note: Sorry for the detailed explanations, didn't want to just include a title cause that would be vague n.n

 

[Vacate]

Looks cool, approved. You might want to categorize them more if possible to keep it concise though.